Posts Tagged ‘Area Guide’

About 40 miles northwest of Tucson along Interstate 10. Take Exit 219 for the Picacho Peak Road.

Park day use hours are 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Admission: $7 per vehicle

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Wildflowers are on a blooming binge this week at Picacho Peak State Park northwest of Tucson.

Carpets of dazzling gold poppies play a starring role in the colorful show — but other wildflowers add their own hues to the landscape. Among them: blue lupines, orange globemallow, white desert chicory and bright yellow brittlebush.

“Beautiful!” “Awesome!” “Amazing!”

Trek one of the park’s flower-flanked trails this month, and you’re likely to hear such exclamations again and again from hikers along the way.

“It’s a rare occurrence to see this wonderful poppy bloom at Picacho Peak State Park,” said Sue Black, director of Arizona State Parks.

Aaron Soggs, manager of the park, said, “At Picacho, the rain data is showing just about 12 inches, which is the accumulated total since September of 2014. The last great year of flowers was 1998, when there was 12 inches of rain, and we are seeing the same result now with the abundance of Mexican poppies blooming.

You’ll find some expanses of poppies and other blooms in the desert area encircled by the loop drive. Try lower reaches of the Hunter Trail and the Calloway Trail for additional good wildflower displays.

The annual Tucson Festival of Books will be held Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the campus of the University of Arizona. The festival features more than 350 authors and panelists, 250 exhibitors, and opportunities to meet famous authors, poets, writers and journalists. There will be book signings, panel discussions, live entertainment, food vendors, children’s activities, Science City, and dozens of free activities for all ages. Admission is free and both Sun Link and Sun Tran provide stops within a short walk of the festival. Sun Link will be kicking off the Festival of Books with an onboard reading by award winning children’s author, Conrad Storad, on Saturday, March 12 at 10 a.m. Storad will begin his reading at the Avenida del Convento stop (across from Mercado San Agustin) and will exit at the University of Arizona to participate in the Festival of Books at the Children’s Storyteller

Just one of the Art Gallery’s to visit during your stay at Desert Dove in Tucson AZ

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun
6300 N Swan
Tucson, AZ 85718
Phone: (520) 299-9191
Toll Free: (800) 545-2185
(1909-1982)
The son of Italian immigrants, Ettore DeGrazia was born June 14, 1909, in the Morenci mining camp of Territorial Arizona. His early childhood experiences in the ethnically diverse community evolved into a lifelong appreciation of native cultures in the Sonoran Desert and a passion to create art depicting their lives and lore.
After the Phelps Dodge mine closed in 1920, DeGrazia was introduced to his parent’s hometown when they moved their seven children to the Calabria region of Italy. The family returned to Morenci when the mine reopened five years later. Enrolling again in the first grade to relearn English, DeGrazia–nicknamed Ted by a schoolteacher–graduated from Morenci High School when he was 23 years old. By then he was an accomplished trumpeter who performed with family and friends.
After working briefly in the mine, DeGrazia hitched a ride to Tucson with his trumpet and $15 in his pocket. He enrolled at the University of Arizona in 1933, where he supported himself planting trees on campus by day and leading his big band at night. During one performance he met Alexandra, the daughter of Fox Theater owner Nicholas Diamos. Ted and Alexandra wed in 1936 and moved to Bisbee so DeGrazia could manage the Lyric Theater there, also owned by the Diamos family. The couple had three children during this time but divorced in 1946.
DeGrazia and Diego Rivera
DeGrazia and Diego Rivera
DeGrazia continued creating his early paintings in Bisbee and by 1941, Raymond Carlson, editor of Arizona Highways, started publishing features about the artist. On a rare vacation to Mexico City in 1942, DeGrazia and Alexandra left an evening ballet performance and headed to the Palacio Municipal where muralist Diego Rivera was working. This encounter led to an internship with Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. The two Mexican masters then sponsored a solo exhibition of DeGrazia’s paintings at the prestigious Palacio de Bellas Artes.
“Los Niños”
“Los Niños”
After returning to Tucson, DeGrazia found that no gallery was interested in exhibiting his artwork, so he bought an acre of land with $25 down at Prince Road and Campbell Avenue to build his first adobe studio in 1944, and also received a BA in Education from the University of Arizona. The following year he received a BFA, plus a Master of Arts titled “Art and Its Relation to Music in Art Education”.
New York sculptor Marion Sheret met the artist when visiting his Campbell Avenue studio. As she recalled, his first words to her were “Where have you been?” They married in the jungles of Mexico in 1947 and bought the 10-acre foothills site in the early 1950s to build what was to become DeGrazia’s Gallery in the Sun.
DeGrazia’s paintings, ceramics and other artwork steadily attracted media attention including the NBC newsreel “Watch the World” and a profile in the 1953 National Geographic article “From Tucson to Tombstone.” His fame flourished when UNICEF chose his 1957 oil painting “Los Niños” for a 1960 holiday card that sold millions worldwide.
Protest at the Superstition Mountains
Protest at the Superstition Mountains
From 1960 to the mid-1970s DeGrazia became wildly successful and the gallery flourished with hundreds of thousands of yearly visitors. To protest inheritance taxes on works of art, DeGrazia hauled about 100 of his paintings on horseback into the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix and set them ablaze in 1976. This infamous event was reported in such publications as The Wall Street Journal and People magazine, becoming part of DeGrazia’s legend before his death in 1982. By this time, the artist had established the DeGrazia Foundation to ensure the permanent preservation of his art and architecture for future generations.

Come get to know your State Museum! In celebration of Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month, you’ll have the opportunity to meet curators, visit laboratories, and tour collections areas in the largest and busiest state-run archaeological repository in the nation.

Hotel Congress would have continued its charming existence as just another place of lodging for road weary guests, were it not for the events of January 22, 1934. That fateful day changed forever the building and its unique place in Tucson history. Early in the morning, a fire started in the basement of the hotel and spread up the elevator to the third floor. This fire, and the subsequent chain of events, led to the capture of one of the country’s most notorious criminals – John Dillinger.

After a series of bank robberies, Dillinger and his gang came to Tucson to “lay low”, residing on the third floor under aliases. Using the switchboard, the front desk clerk notified hotel guests of the fire and guests were evacuated using aerial ladders. On the urgent request of the gang, and encouraged by a generous tip, two firemen retrieved the heavy luggage they left behind. It was later discovered that the bags contained a small arsenal and $23,816 in cash.

Later, these astute firemen recognized the gang in True Detective Magazine. A stakeout resulted in the capture of Dillinger at a house on North Second Avenue. In a space of five hours, without firing a single shot, the police of small town Tucson had done what the combined forces of several states and the FBI had failed to accomplish. When captured, Dillinger simply muttered, “Well, I’ll be damned”.

We still celebrate his capture each third weekend in January with Dillinger Days, which is a fun event featuring reenactments, food and music, tours and lectures.

The Tucson gem shows are a collection of over 30 different owned and operated public and wholesale gem, mineral and jewelry events with over 3,000 exhibitors throughout Tucson.

The Official 62nd Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show® is held at the downtown Tucson Convention Center (TCC). This event has over 250 general retail dealers and special and guest exhibits for the general public and has been held annually since 1955. Tucson Gem Show

TUCSON RODEO PARADE 9 A.M.
Over 200 non-motorized floats are on display along the one and one-half mile parade route beginning at Park Ave. and Ajo Way, proceeding south on Park to Irvington Rd. Tickets for Grandstand seating at Irvington and South 6th Ave, $10 adults, $5 kids under 13. Call (520) 294-1280 for grandstand tickets.

A colorful parade presented annually as part of the Tucson Rodeo and Parade (La Fiesta de los Vaqueros) since 1925. Now known as the “largest non-motorized parade in the country,” it was selected as a Top 100 Event in North America for 2015 by the American Bus Association. Longtime Tucsonan and former University of Arizona baseball coach Jerry Kindall has been chosen Grand Marshal of the 2015 Tucson Rodeo Parade.

The Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase is one of the premier gem and mineral shows in the world. The event takes place annually in late January and February at approximately 40 to 49 different locations across the city of Tucson, Arizona. Most of the shows are open to the public, except for certain trade shows which require registration with a business license. There is not one single location for gems, minerals and fossils, but rather dealers occupy dozens of locations across the city: many big hotels and most motels are occupied for this occasion, with professionals displaying their specimens in such locations as hotel bedrooms, lobbies, tents, and lawns. The premier event of the Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase is the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show produced by the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society. This show has been held annually since 1955 and now occupies 181,000 square feet (16,800 m2) of the Tucson Convention Center. All of the shows have attendees from all across the world which includes the general public, experts, beginning collectors, museum employees, dealers, retailers, and researchers.

Fun times in Tucson! Enjoy great weather with sunny days, and great food!

A stay at the Desert Dove Bed & Breakfast would be a good choice after a full day of shopping. Relaxing in the spa under the stars, what could be better!

Enjoy the cooling afternoon temperatures with your tourism colleagues as you wander through the grounds of the Mercado and its merchants while also visiting the Farmer’s Market. On the roof deck, sample hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar from Agustín Kitchen, and listen to the sounds of the instrumental trio Hey, Bucko!

Not familiar with the west end of downtown? Park anywhere along the 4-mile Sun Link Tucson Streetcar route, hop on the streetcar, and travel to the west end stop, right on the doorstep of the Mercado! Agustin Kitchen’s award-winning chef Ryan Clark invites you to stay for dinner after the event… show your Sun Link GoCard ticket and he will take $4 off your bill!